Sunday, 18 January 2015

As promised, I am going to highlight a brand new Latin Mass initiative that has occurred in the province of Ontario! For those of you who haven't caught my last few posts, I am expanding some of my coverage (regular offerings and on the most important feast days) to include other (arch)dioceses of Ontario. What I will speak about is now a regular listing.

Furthermore, the priest in charge of this listing has been a great, faithful Holy Priest who has frequently assisted the St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir in their offerings of the Latin Mass in the Archdiocese of Toronto, travelling much a distance to aid the choir. Telling you about the initiative he leads is the least someone like myself involved in the Latin Mass can do for such an Alter Christi.

St. Mary's is a Catholic Church that is in the diocese of Peterborough, Ontario. The diocese covers the more northern regions of Ontario.

As per its website, (http://www.saintmaryschurch.info/#!about/aboutPage): "It was founded in the late 1800's and the present building was erected in 1900 when the previous building underwent a fire during the night of Christmas Eve to Christmas Morning, in December 1899."

The parish is attached to the local school of same namesake, and has the basic ministries and organizations of most catholic parishes at the moment: e.g. Catholic Women's League, Knights of Columbus Chapter, Society of St. Vincent De Paul, Altar Serving, Lectoring ...

The parish contact information is here:

Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

21 Centre St. - P.O. Box 599

Campbellford, ON K0L 1L0

Canada

Tel: 705-653-1093

Fax: 705-653-1093

Email: visitation@eastlink.ca

Pastor of the Parish, Fr. Jean-Pierre Pilon

Fr. Jean-Pierre Pilon, has been the pastor of St. Mary's since 2010. He is especially well suited for the implementation and celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite/Latin Mass, due to his extensive background.

Fr. Pilon was ordained by well-known traditionalist bishop, Bp.Fabian Bruskewitz, formerly of the archdiocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, in 2002, after his seminary training at Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, although he is not currently a permanent member with the designate title, FSSP, of the fraternity. Instead he switched gears and became a Franciscan Friar. This was until his order dissolved and this resulted in his incardination into the diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA. Before coming to St. Mary's in 2010, he had also done some chaplaincy work in Europe in France and Ireland.

Regardless of the twists and turns of his journey as a priest, Fr. Pilon's experience in the FSSP seminary in Nebraska gave him the capabilities to carry out the Latin Mass at its various levels.

Establishment of the Latin Mass Initiative INCLUDING Sunday Obligation in the Diocese of Peterborough

While the Latin Mass had been said in private without permission, according to normal Church Laws, (e.g. Summorum Pontificum and Ecclesiae Unitatem) by Fr. Pilon, Toronto's former auxillary bishop, now Ordinary for the diocese of Peterborough, Bishop William McGrattan, formally gave permission to establish Sunday obligation Masses for the Extraordinary Form at St. Mary's.

This permission was graciously given, as a number of parishioners in the archdiocese and neighboring townships (e.g. Keene) have expressed interested in the Latin Mass, wanting more than just random private offerings.

The first regular Sunday Mass for the Extraordinary Form was December 14, 2014. This offering will be part of St. Mary's on the Second, Third, and in 5-week months, the 4th, Sundays of the Month, at 12:30pm. This offering complements an already existing offering at Our Lady of the Assumption (Mission - St. John the Evangelist) Catholic Church in Keene, Ontario, where they hold the Latin Mass at 12:30pm on the 1st and last Sundays of the month.

Currently, the offerings for the Latin Mass at St. Mary's will be the Low Mass with Chant. Besides when the priest chants in the Mass, the organ and choir chant portions, such as propers, are being provided by a retired parishioner, a former music professor (Ph.D.) As for the serving portions, a couple of young men have willfully come forward to Fr. Pilon and have been sufficiently trained for serving the Mass.

There are plans to develop both a schola and the serving program in the future, which could also lead to the ability to offer Masses of the higher levels in future.

In addition to the already beautiful facade and interior of the church, there are plans underway to restore the parish bells to working condition. This project is not just a renewal of the physical aspects of the Church, but it also reflects the spiritual life of the parish and its parishioners. Should one want to find out more information about this project and donate by Internet via PayPal, then you can click on this link: http://www.saintmaryschurch.info/#!history/c8de

Therefore, I ask you, should your travels but out in Peterborough on a Sunday afternoon, may you consider and support this beautiful new offering in the Latin Mass at St. Mary's. This is an exciting new venture and there should be many more good things to come in future of it.